Hawks-Clippers Preview

By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTOPosted Mar 05 2016 2:43AM

Blake Griffin is nearing a return, but the Los Angeles Clippers have done just fine without him.

The Clippers may need to overcome Griffin's absence again as they go for a four-game winning streak Saturday night against the visiting Atlanta Hawks.

Griffin has missed 34 games with a torn left quad and a broken hand he sustained when he punched a member of the Clippers' equipment staff in January.

The All-Star power forward is showing signs that a return is near, participating in a pregame warmup Wednesday in Oklahoma City. However, he remained out and watched the Clippers erase a 22-point deficit to beat the Thunder 103-98.

"That's probably why he's not playing," Rivers told the team's official website. "My guess is that he's healthy, but the hand doctor probably has not cleared him for contact as far as getting hit. That's the only thing. Honestly, watching him (Wednesday), I was thinking that has to be the only reason is they're worried it's not healed properly yet.

"That's the only thing I can come up with."

Griffin is averaging 23.2 points and 8.7 rebounds, but Los Angeles (40-20) hasn't missed him much during a 23-7 stretch in which it has scored 107.7 points per game.

Chris Paul has been vital to that production, averaging 21.8 points and 10.3 assists with Griffin out. He's been even better with 28.0 points and 12.7 assists per game while shooting 55.8 percent from the floor during a three-game winning streak.

Paul, however, had 11 points and missed 10 of 15 from the field at Atlanta on Jan. 27, but Jamal Crawford picked up the slack with 21 points, while DeAndre Jordan added 13 with 19 rebounds.

Crawford is averaging 19.8 points over the last four games, and his 14.0 season mark gives his a chance to become the NBA's first to win the Sixth Man of the Year Award for the third time.

"It's never happened before, so I honestly don't know," Crawford said. "I'm so locked in just trying to get wins. I mean, obviously those types of things come when you're winning."

The Hawks (34-28) have won three of their last four, yielding an average of 80.3 points on 34.6 percent shooting and 21.5 from long range in the victories.

Atlanta dominated the Los Angeles Lakers in every facet Friday, forcing them to shoot just 5 of 27 from 3-point range en route to a 106-77 win and the club's first sweep of the season series since 1973-74.

The Hawks, who shot 28.9 percent from beyond the arc in their previous five games, went 13 of 28 from deep and outscored the Lakers 27-2 on the fast break.

"When you start making 3s and then transitioning quickly, then you're scoring and getting stops, then getting another one on top of it, it can add up quickly," coach Mike Budenholzer said.

Balanced scoring isn't new for Atlanta, which has five players averaging double-digits on the season. That includes reserve Dennis Schroder, who has put up 15.6 points per game over the last eight while connecting on 54.1 percent of his shots.

The guard, however, is averaging 5.8 points in four career meetings with the Clippers after scoring seven in January.

Jeff Teague had 16 points and Paul Millsap had 14 with 12 boards in that meeting as every Hawks starter scored at least 12. Millsap, though, has averaged 18.7 points in the past six matchups with the Clippers.

Copyright 2016 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Millsap, Teague lead Hawks over Clippers 107-97

By JOE RESNICKPosted Mar 06 2016 2:09AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) For the Atlanta Hawks, it wasn't how they started, against the Los Angeles Clippers but how they finished.

Jeff Teague scored 22 points, Paul Millsap had 20 points and a season-high 18 rebounds, and the Hawks used a game-ending 25-9 run to beat the Clippers 107-97 Saturday night after trailing by as many as 17 points in the second quarter.

"We knew that we just had to continue to keep doing what we do," Teague said. "We changed the coverage and was a little more aggressive against Chris Paul to make it tougher on him to make passes. We played well as a group, and it was a good team win. The guys played great off the bench, the starters - everybody."

The Clippers were coming off a miracle 103-98 victory over Oklahoma City on Wednesday after trailing by 22 and then rallying from a 16-point deficit in the final 7 1/2 minutes with a game-ending 26-5 run.

"To finish it on a run like that, it was a good quality road win for us against a team that's been playing well," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "After taking a huge punch in the first quarter (37 points against), we came out in the second, third and fourth and found a way to play pretty good defense. It's pretty satisfying. This was good for our group."

Kent Bazemore added 17 points for the Hawks, who were back at Staples Center one night after routing the Lakers 106-77. They climbed 1 1/2 games behind idle Miami in the in the race for the Southeast Division lead.

Kris Humphries had four points before fouling out with 3:32 left in his second game with the Hawks after signing as a free agent.

Millsap's rebound total was two more than he had in his previous three games combined. And it wasn't easy with the league's No. 2 rebounder, DeAndre Jordan, battling him under the boards.

"Paul competed at a high level, and we expect that from him every night," Teague said. "Thirteen (defensive) boards - that's beasty, man."

All five starters scored in double figures for the Clippers. Jordan had 17 points and 11 rebounds, Paul 17 points and 11 assists. Jordan has reached double digits in rebounds in 18 straight games, the league's longest streak this season.

Bazemore converted a steal into a fast-break layup and a three-point play, giving Atlanta a 62-60 lead with 7 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. They sealed the victory with a 19-5 run that turned a six-point deficit into a 101-93 lead with 3:18 to play.

"We just let them back in it," Paul said. "I had some bad turnovers, and we just didn't have it tonight. Low energy. It's too late in the season to have letdowns like the one we had. That can't happen. But I think a lot of the credit goes to Atlanta for fighting to get back in the game."

A short hook shot by backup center Cole Aldrich extended the Clippers' lead to 42-25 with 10:20 left in the second quarter, but the Hawks sliced the margin to 55-50 with a 12-2 run in the final 3 minutes of the half, led by Teague and Al Horford.

"I thought Jeff was great at both ends," Budenholzer said. "He set the tone with his aggressiveness on Chris Paul on the pick-and-rolls."

The Clippers are 23-8 since losing Blake Griffin because of a partially torn left quad tendon in a game against the Lakers on Christmas. Whenever he is medically cleared to play, he will begin serving a five-game suspension for punching an assistant equipment manager and breaking his shooting hand a month ago while the team was in Toronto.

TIP-INS:

Hawks: Atlanta has won six games in which it trailed by double digits. The Hawks rallied from 19 down to beat Houston on Dec. 29, and erased a 15-point deficit to beat the Knicks three nights earlier. ... Horford became the ninth player in franchise history with at least 5,000 rebounds. ... The Hawks have won four of their last six with both losses coming against the defending champion Warriors, who are 55-5. ... Atlanta converted 19 Clippers turnovers into 13 points. The Hawks came in third in the league in turnovers forced per game (16.5) and were tied for first in points off turnovers (19.3). ... Budenholzer and Clippers counterpart Doc Rivers both hold the dual role of head coach and president of basketball operations with their respective clubs. Rivers' first eight seasons as an NBA player were spent with the Hawks.

Clippers: The largest lead the Clippers have blown in a loss this season was 25 points, when the Warriors beat them 124-117 at Los Angeles on Nov. 19. ... Starting F Luc Mbah a Moute missed his second straight game because of a laceration on his left eyelid. ... Jeff Green, acquired by the Clippers from Memphis on Feb. 18, had 14 points in 37 minutes in his seventh game with the club. He started for the third time after playing 17 scoreless minutes against Oklahoma City and shooting 0 for 7. ... G Jamal Crawford won the first of his two Sixth Man of the Year Awards with the Hawks in 2009-10 and got the other one with the Clippers two seasons ago.

UP NEXT:

Hawks: At Utah on Tuesday.

Clippers: At Dallas on Monday.

Copyright 2016 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited